Passion for a Purpose

From off-gridders and preppers to refugees and disaster survivors, there are millions of people on the planet who are trying to get by with just the basics. We’ve come to discover that the things we buy and rely on here at Sahalee everyday are actually helping others around the world because of active corporate social responsibility programs and outreach. It really means a lot to us to know that our purchases not only help us to live the life we always wanted, but the money we spend is being turned back to help build a kinder and more sustainable global community for us all. In these wacky political times, dollar votes are more important than ever!!

In 2003, Groovy Yurts founder Yves Ballenegger delivered his first truck load of school supplies to a Mongolian rural school for Globetrucker, a fully volunteer, non-profit organization. He then loaded his empty truck with a few handmade Mongolian yurts and hauled them back to his home country of Switzerland. They sold fast and helped finance the next school deliveries to Mongolia. Today, the yurt business still supports Globetrucker’s outreach.

Groovy Yurts believes that a profitable business can be developed sustainably and sources most materials from the Mongolian countryside to support the rural economy. In addition to partnering with local families to produce yurts and furniture, the business supports a few community development projects like two women’s cooperatives whose felt products are sold through the catalogue. As if that weren’t enough to give back, Groovy Yurts also opened their own tree nursery!! For every yurt sold, at least 25 trees are grown and nurtured for 3 years before being planted. Meet the Groovy Yurts Family!

Proudly making solar cookers in the USA for 28 years, Sun Oven International is working in Afghanistan, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nepal, North Korea, and South Africa to incorporate the use of solar cooking and solar ovens into programs to improve the lives of people in the developing world.Partnering with numerous NGOs, SUN OVENS® are being utilized in sustainable programs to address the following areas:

Deforestation prevention

Expanding women’s capacities to transform conditions

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions

GLOBAL SUN OVEN® Assembly plants

Micro-enterprise

Orphanage programs

Refugee operations

Read more about the Sun Oven International global outreach and see how this simple technology can make a world of difference!

MPOWERD was founded in 2012 on a sustainable business model that provides clean and safe solar lights to people in developing countries at prices they can afford. Their Luci lights are bringing solar-powered lighting to over a million people in 105 countries. In partnership with 226 NGOs, MPOWERD is on a mission to reach the 1.5 billion people in the developing world who still live without electricity.

In many places, as soon as the sun goes down, children can’t study, entrepreneurs have to stop working, women are less safe walking outside, health clinics have to close… The list goes on. Kerosene lamps are the most common solution in these areas – but they are dangerous, toxic and expensive. Lightweight, easy to carry, and shining for hours on a single charge, Luci is a clean, safe and affordable way to bring light to the world. In Sub-Saharan Africa, New Course gives Luci lights to rural women so they can be freed them from the financial burden and daily responsibility of collecting traditional energy fuel, as well as from the toxic kerosene fumes that filled their homes. You can help to give the gift of light by donating a Luci today!

With NGO partners such as OxFam and UK Aid, the Icon LIFESAVER® water purification technology is being deployed around the world to help address the world’s clean water crisis – 783 million people lack access to safe clean drinking water around the world. They have no choice but to drink and wash in dirty, contaminated water sources everyday.

In a recent success story, UK Aid and the Ministry of Health and Water provided a community in Sierra Leone, West Africa with a LIFESAVER C2 unit to produce up to 2,000,000 litres of water. That will provide the community of 100 people with clean drinking water for 27 years! In another case, LIFESAVER cubes were airdropped into Iraq in August 2014 to provide civilians with a supply of emergency drinking water during military conflict. See more about how the LIFESAVER is being used around the world!